For the past six months or so I haven't done hardly any traveling for scrap. I'm making most of my profit by having them bring stuff to me to trade for stuff they find useful. I'd been doing this on some level for years but I started thinking how I could cut down expenses (ie: gas) and wear and tear on myself and equipment. First thing I did was let go all the places I picked up on a regular basis (mostly small repair shops). Now I'm concentrating on larger stuff like estate cleanouts and commercial/industrial upgrading equipment. Estate cleanouts are especially suited to the bartering system. Some of the people I trade with are regular, repeat people and some are one-time. I'll offer to sell stuff for cash (and often do) but I'll make more by bartering. For instance, just yesterday, a regular picked up an old snowplow headgear (just the A_frame and lights), a rabbit cage and a handful of items; plus a sail I had taken with some aluminum pans to keep them from blowing out of the trailer - I had no use for it. It had a couple holes in it so couldn't sell it. In exchange, I got about 100 pounds of #1 Iron, a little Light Iron and 34 pounds of Copper tubing. Plus a promise of some more copper tubing as payment for the sail.
I'd already sold a basket-case motorcycle for $100 and traded a garden tractor for repairs to my trailer and labor. The best part is all the stuff I get is free. Generally, it's seen as saving in disposal fees.
I'll take barter over cash sale any day. Everybody sees it as a win. Oh - the example above - he lives about three miles from two scrap yards.
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